Why does the lawyer need to be familiar with cryptocurrencies? Is there any reason why you can't hire the best lawyer you can afford, and then let them get familiar with cryptocurrencies?

The reason I ask is that lawyers familiar with cryptocurrencies may not be the best/right lawyer for you, and aiming for quality/diligence/experience may be more effective than screening them based on whether they're already familiar with cryptocurrencies.posted by jayder at 1:39 PM on January 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

David Ries of Thorp, Reed, and Armstrong has regularly done presentations for the infosec community in and around the area. As an infosec professional in Pittsburgh, he's the first guy I think of whenever technology issues come up.

That said, I have no idea if David has worked with cryptocurrency at all, but he does have a strong background in e-discovery and e-commerce, both of which intersect with the use of bitcoins. David's a good guy, though, so at worst he could probably refer you to someone.posted by bfranklin at 1:45 PM on January 20, 2014

1. jayder, The lawyer needs to be familiar with cryptocurrencies because the project is inseparable from crypto. It's not like we're making a widget and want to accept bitcoin as payment, we're developing something cryptocoin-related and don't want to pay to educate an attorney about crypto 101 and 201, etc. I helped start an ISP in 1995 and spent 10 years training lawyers to help us. That sucks.

Not sure where you're located but if you are in SV/NYC/Austin/Boston, etc. there are lot of bitcoin-related meetups to go to, where attorneys and other startup hangers-on go. That's one way to find such an attorney.posted by dfriedman at 2:40 PM on January 20, 2014

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